quote:Originally posted by v8capri:
...What is the steering like with the 245/35/18's on the front...
The car steers easily once under motion, but it takes a good tug on the steering wheel when its sitting still, like in a parking lot. A 235 section tire won't be noticeably easier.
I agree with sick cat, the Michelin PS2's apppear to be a great tire, but I haven't had the opportunity to put much time on mine, YET!
quote:... I am so confused now ...
Wheel and Tire 101
The wheel wells of the narrow body Pantera were designed with 25" diameter tires in the front (185/70R15 = 25.2" OD), 27" diameter tires in the rear (215/70R15 = 26.9" OD). These are the tire diameters that will look best on the car. Admittedly it can be difficult when sizing tires for a larger wheel to find tires of those exact diameters, so it may be necessary to stray from the 25"/27" oem sizing. When necessary to do so, it is best to use a smaller OD tire, not a larger one, because the smaller tire looks better in relation to the wheel well opening, but more importantly the smaller tire lowers the car, which improves handling. The taller tire raises the car to the detriment of handling.
One aspect I noticed about the tires you proposed to install on your car, 235/30R20 and 315/25R20, the rear tires are 26.2" OD and the front tires are 25.7" OD. The rear tires are 0.7" smaller than the oem tire OD, the front tires are 0.5" larger than the oem tire OD. This will result in pointing the nose of the car further into the air, giving the car more of a nose up attitude than what it already has, which is just the opposite of what you should be doing from the standpoint of aerodynamics. Aesthetically most owners prefer to lower the nose of the Pantera in relation to the rear of the car, the consensus is the Pantera looks better sitting level or with a nose down attitude. Lowering the nose of the car also reduces the front end lift the car has at high speeds.
Considering the above, the tires you purchse for your narrow body Pantera should be 24" - 25" OD for the front and 26" - 27" OD for the rear. To maintain the small front tire/large back tire look, and the relationship of front to rear height, the front tire should be 1 1/2" to 2" smaller in OD than the back tire.
In sizing wheels, the wheel width should be at least as wide as the tread width (not the section width). If a certain tire has a wheel width spec of 10" to 12", you can assume the tire tread is mid-way between those measurements, or 11" in this example. Therefore the wheel widths you would choose for that tire would fall between 11" to 12" (12" in this example being the maximum recommended width).
When selecting tires, it is important to use the same make AND model tire front and back. Different model tires, even from the same manufacturer, will have different rubber compounds, different tread designs, different carcass designs; therefore installing different model tires front to back will make the front to back handling bias of the car unpredictable, possibly even dangerous.
Since the tires are different widths and diameters front to back, Pantera wheels & tires cannot be rotated like those of a normal car, therefore there is no disadvantage to using different diameter wheels front to back. It is a very common practice on today's modern sports & exotic cars. Remember, the wheel wells of the narrow body Pantera were designed this way intentionally, to give the car the look of a powerful rear section. Using wheels that are 1" or 2" smaller OD in the front emphasizes this. Everybody seems to like the look of Panteras with wheels sized this way, such as Laslo Antal's new Group 4 replica or Mike Daileys beautiful red pre-L.
Another consideration are your brake rotors, the large 20" wheels make small brake rotors look out of place on the car. Especially up front. My car has Willwood brakes with 12.75" rotors, the 18" front wheels make my rotors look small (they looked OK with 17" wheels). Its obvious I am going to have to upgrade to 14" rotors in the future.
Since I was using wheels that were 2" different in diameter, I intended to utilize tires that had the same sidewall height. The 235/35R18 and 325/25R20 were a perfect combination from that perspective. Upon the advice of the gentleman who assisted me in designing this tire wheel package, I utilized the slightly larger 245/35R18 front tire. I am unhappy with the results and plan to purchase 235/35 tires the first time I have to replace the front tires. It is just barely noticeable, most people don't notice it unless I point it out, but it bothers the heck out of me. The sidewalls of the front tires are 0.14" taller than the sidewalls of the rear tires, that may seem like a small amount, but it is noticable with the eye.
cowboy from hell